After both couples had lay slumped, breathless, spent, depleted of energy for about five minutes, Karen got up and said she needed to go for a shower and clean up.
Lex and Becky got dressed again, Becky kissed Karen on the cheek and whispered quietly, "You okay?"
Karen nodded to her as they both turned to leave.
"Catch you later, bud?" said Lex, Nick nodding quietly as they passed him.
Karen followed them to the door and closed it behind them after placing the 'Do Not Disturb' tag on the outside door handle.
It had been a bizarre 48hrs for Karen.
Her first time cheating on her husband, her first time with a stranger, her first time with a woman, her first time group sex.
After over 40 years of marriage, for much of which she had had quite a low libido, she suddenly seemed to have a voracious appetite for sex.
Was it that she, or they, had taken the physical side of their relationship for granted and not felt desired, or desirable.
Whatever it was, a switch had been flicked. Or was it like taking the lid off Pandora's box?
Nick sat on the sofa drinking a large tumbler of water to clear his head after the excesses of sex and booze.
His mind flitting around, a cocktail of doubt, uncertainty, confusion and fear.
Fear! That was it, his uppermost emotion, fear of losing his soulmate.
The only way of surviving this mess, a mess of his own making in many ways, was to sit down and redefine together what they wanted in future. A life together, a life apart, or two lives lived together but independent of one another.
"What a bloody mess you've made of this, Nick!" he thought to himself, his head in his hands.
Karen stood in the shower, the warm water seeming to clear the fog of too much wine and the physical excesses of having several orgasms in a matter of hours, not something she was used to. Karen normally had sex once a fortnight at the most and after one orgasm it was normally a routine of a kiss goodnight, roll over and go to sleep.
She was conflicted; one side of her loved the sense of excitement, attention and being attractive again; the other side felt guilt, shame, and tarty.
Karen's head was all over the place. She wished she hadn't told Becky about her frisson with Jean, it had complicated matters enourmously. But, just as Becky had predicted, Nick obviously loved the experience of seeing her with another woman, so if she intended to try and unwind this complicated tangle, he would have to buy into that or it would mean the end of their marriage. Their life of over 40 years together, ruined.
There was going to have to be a very deep, serious discussion. One she couldn't predict the outcome of. Their marriage had never been tested as much as this.
Karen switched off the shower and wrapped herself in her bathrobe. Stepping out of the bathroom she could see Nick, sat on the sofa, his head in his hands. He looked terrible, broken.
Karen walked over and sat next to her soulmate. "Come on darling, cheer up," Karen said softly, "Why don't you go have a shower, clear your head, and we'll sit and talk about what's happened and how we deal with it, eh?"
Nick nodded, stroked her face softly, and went into the bathroom.
Karen poured herself a large tumbler of water and sipped at it whilst she sat on the end of the bed. Looking at her watch, it was almost 5pm. She fetched a change of clothes from the wardrobe and dressed suitable for dinner but not really feeling very hungry at that time.
She blew her thick, short, salt & pepper hair dry, carefully reshaping it back into the cute bob that took 10 years off her age.
Karen wrapped her maxi length, Plum coloured wrapover dress around her and tied the wide fabric belt around her waist in a side bow.
She looked at herself in the mirror at the end of the corridor and was pleased with what she saw. Elegant, classy, tasteful, definitely NOT cheap or tarty.
Nick stood under the shower, his mind still racing. He felt slightly nauseous, the stale taste of French lager slightly sour in his mouth.
He poured a good handful of shower gel into his hand and rubbed it into his hair using the tips of his fingers until it formed a thick, luxurious foam.
He rubbed the foam all over his body, over his shoulders, arms, back and groin. He poured more shower gel into his hand and massaged it into his pubic hair and slightly engorged cock, rubbing around the head to wash away the slimy sticky remnants of cum that was smothered on it.
He was amazed that Karen had stopped him from pulling out of her mouth and that she had gulped down all of his cum. That was most unlike her. He was unsure whether that was for his benefit, hers, or not wanting to appear prudish in front of Lex and Becky.
He stood a few minutes longer, letting the warm refreshing water rejuvenate and revive him.
He made sure all of the suds were out of his hair and then switched the shower off, stepping out and wrapping his clean bath robe around himself. He roughly rubbed his short, fine, silver hair dry with a hand towel and slid the door open.
As he stepped into the corridor to choose some clean clothes for dinner and the rest of the evening, he pondered over what to wear.
He didn't feel particularly hungry at that point and wondered whether Karen was wanting to eat.
Nick wandered down toward the lounge and saw Karen putting on eye liner and mascara in the mirror in the bedroom.
"You look lovely, babe. I like that dress, it suits you."
"Aww, thank you, that's nice. You know I don't really like dresses very much but I saw this online and the model was about my age and build so I thought it might be suitable for the trip. I bought this one and one in a sort of cream coloured velvet."
"Classy, it really looks well on you. What shall we do about dinner, babe? Do you think you could fancy anything?"
"I'm really not sure, Nick," Karen said, softly, "I think we do need to get our heads around this, before we bump into Becky and Lex. I don't want us to feel pulled or pressured into turning this into some sordid sex cruise. So we should talk first and decide how we're going to handle it."
"You're right, babe. I thought the same myself. I really am scared of losing you and I need to know what all of this means for us. I don't really care about how they feel about it."
"Aww, come here, darling,"Karen said, stretching her arms toward him, "We can work through this, we come as a pair! We're two halves of one thing, aren't we."
Nick embraced Karen, wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tight to his chest. "I love you, babe, and if the only way to keep you is to share you with others, that's okay, but I won't be turned into some feeble cuckold."
Karen pulled away slightly, "Come on, let's grab a coffee, sit down, and talk about this."
Karen sat on the sofa whilst Nick fixed a couple of cappuccinos from their bean to cup coffee maker on the bar.
"You seem to have found your libido, but it seems to be focused on others. First, young Jean, then Karen, I seem to be sidelined a bit. I don't know why, so I'm worried that youre drifting away from me. I couldn't bear that, Karen, honestly."
Nick returned with the coffees and sat next to Karen on the sofa.
"You don't have to worry about that. Honestly, Nick. I loved it when we arrived on here, it was very romantic how we were when we were on the terrace together. I like to feel loved, well... actually... I always feel loved by you. I mean desired, I like to feel desired. For a while now I haven't felt desirable, so I haven't felt desired either," Karen explained, emotionally.
Nick sat, quietly absorbing what his soulmate was saying.
"I find you desirable a lot, babe, but when I wanted to show, or act on that desire, it has felt for a while as though you don't feel the same," Nick said, gently, "I know that you've gone through changes physically, I know that happens to lots of women, and I know that a medical option to address those changes isn't appropriate for you. I've tried to accommodate that, and work with it, I just don't want to feel rejected but don't want to pressure you either. I suppose we just need to find a new way."
"Well, you're right, it hasn't been comfortable for a while for me to take you inside me, Nick. But if we take time to build up more, the way we have here, it seems to be okay. In fact, I think it feels even better."
